The Jayaram incident

Jayaram was two years junior to me in Sankara. He had a group of 3 or 4 friends who used to move with him always. They were all co-students from his Perumbavoor school.

I had our own group of friends and sometimes various groups used to meet in canteen and other places as is usual in any college. Since most of my friends were from Perumbavoor, they knew him before.

He was in PDC first year when we were in Degree first year. He studied only for two years in Sankara and until the last few months of his college days, was not much known.

I remember he stood for election as class representative for PD2 and I was the class representative for DC2. Both of us were in the same panel. The alliance was called the Progressive Democratic Front(PDF).

During his second year Arts Club Festival, he shot to limelight as a mimicry artist. It has an interesting background.

Outside the college, in Ernakulam, The Cochin Kalabhavan troupe was getting famous through their "Mimics Parade" depicting mono-acting, parady, mimicking and funny mock stories.

Here is one sample. This is from a mock news reel shown in theatres before a movie starts.

"Biharil Vellappokkam.....(sound) Pradhana Mathri Indira Gandhi helicopteril vellappokka badhitha pradeshangal sandarshichu..." (sound of helicopter)

"Pradhanamanthriyute durithaswasa nidhiyil ninnu Oru Laksham roopa vellathilittu...!(sound of falling)

Jayaram's one man show was a tremendous success. Little did we know, and Cochin Kalabhavan know, that he had copied the entire program from Kalabhavan.

Jayaram did this in the morning session of the function in Sankara stage, and in the afternoon Cochin Kalabhavan was supposed to perform on the same stage.

In the afternoon, Kalabhavan troupe came and presented their show. The original looked like a duplicate and the response was not enthusiastic. They were surprised at the poor response, because they had just introduced these items and wherever they had presented, there was tremendous appreciation and applause.

Later, the Kalabhavan people had a talk with Jayaram and shared their unhappiness, it seems.

Do you know the final outcome?

Next thing we heard, maybe around 6 months later, Jayaram joined Cochin Kalabahavan!

Rest is history......

Postscript
I saw Jayaram in a crowded inaugural ceremony of a textile shop a few years ago and waved at him and told "Sankara College". We exchanged a few words and talked about common acquintances Ayyappan and Menon.

I remember him telling "Ayyappan ippol Muscuttila..."